290 Skelchts of CharacUrs in tht Active World. 



For the Mimihlji Mao-azine. 



SKETCHES, ILLUSTRATIVE 0/ «/te PRESENT 

 STATE of CHARACTERS ill the ACTIVE 

 WORLD. 



" The spectacles with which the star« 

 HcreiiJs, in -niallpst characters." — Sutler. 



IT is intended to give, in tlii^ suc- 

 cessive numbers of the Monthly 

 Magazine, sketches of the present 

 state of the active world in the most 

 conspicuous chnracters of the day ; 

 Eloquence in its different forms, 

 — senatorial, forensic, and clerical ; 

 Personal Display, as it is Ibund on tlie 

 stage, in the orchestra, or in the 

 dance ; Painting and Sculpture, in 

 tlieir various styles; and Literature 

 and Science, as found in the various 

 classes of authors. 



SKETCH 1. — The British Senate. 

 We shall give the foremost place to 

 the House of Commons; because it 

 contains the greater number of emi- 

 nent men, is the theatre of theiir elo- 

 quence in the earlier and more glow- 

 ing period of life, and occupies the 

 greatest share of the public attention. 

 As the object of the House of Com- 

 mons is not rhetorical display, but real 

 and important business, its oratory 

 ought not to be measured by the scho- 

 lastic rules. Its members are drawn 

 from all ranks of society, have enjoyed 

 all the varied styles of education, from 

 the most perfect mental culture down 

 to almost none; many of them have 

 their parliamentary attention occasion- 

 ally, or habitually, disturbed by the 

 exercise of laborious professions, by 

 the superintendance of extensive and 

 complicated business, or by the gaiety 

 of high life ; and they are not confined 

 to any fised rules, but allowed the 

 utmost range, both of subject and of 

 language. To such men, the formulae of 

 Cicero and Quintilian do not apply. 

 Their preparation, their aggregation, 

 and their labours, are all sui-generis ; 

 and, therefore, they ought to be judged 

 by a standard for which there is no 

 precedent in the annals of other na- 

 tions. Their eloquence may, in the 

 strictest sense of the term, be called 

 British; and, as such, it requires a 

 system, an<l a nomenclature, peculiar 

 to itself. 



In that which we shall adopt as the 

 key to the tabular sketch which is 

 given in this article, we sh;dl study 

 clearness and simplicity, rather than 

 any accordance with existing systems; 

 and, by so doing, we shall be able to 

 throw many minor particulars under 

 2 



[May 1, 



one head, which, when we come \p 

 treat of the bar, the pulpit, and the 

 stage, will have to be separated. Our 

 object will be to give a summary of the 

 powers of each speaker, and an esti- 

 mate of the effect which those powers 

 produce, both within the walls of St. 

 Stephen's, an<l upon the public with- 

 out; subjoining, at the same time, that 

 species or variety of oratory, which is 

 the distinguishing characteristic of 

 each speaker. 



The whole appearance of a senato- 

 rial orator may be described under 

 tlie three general heads, of 



1. Intellectual capacity. 



2. External conduct. 



3. Practical eflfipct. 

 1 . Under the first of these, may be 



comprehended all the original powers, 

 and all the acquired knowledge, which 

 a speaker brings to the management of 

 his subject: the perception which ena- 

 bles him to understand the subject 

 itself; the learning, which enables him 

 to throw light upon it from other sub- 

 jects ; the abstraction and analysis, 

 by which he clears it of darkness and 

 difficulty; the combination, by which 

 he makes the several parts of it to bear 

 upon, and illustrate each other; the 

 arrangement, by which he makes the 

 chain of it to flow clear, smooth, and 

 unbroken ; the irony, by which he turns 

 into ridicule that which cannot be 

 explained or argued away ; the wit, 

 by which he dazzles his hearers, that 

 they may not be able to see the weak 

 parts; the acuteness, by which he anti- 

 cijjates and shakes the objections of his 

 antagonist, or turns his attacks after 

 they are made ; and the vigilance- and 

 self-command, by which, amid an 

 apparent whirlwind of passions, he 

 preserves his equanimity and poise. 



2. Under the second may be in- 

 cluded, all the machinery and move- 

 ments oflanguage, of theeye, the body, 

 and the limbs, by which he gives effect 

 to his intellectual power. The whole 

 of that strength, or Weakness, of sound 

 and of statuary, which produces an 

 impression without regard to the mat- 

 ter spoken ; and which increases, or 

 diminishes, in a very wonderful degree, 

 the impression which that matter pro- 

 duces. We find, for instance, that a 

 cock of the eye, a curl of the lip, or a 

 movement of the body, inone speaker, 

 speaks at once powerfully, and to the 

 soul ; while the best chosen words of 

 another fall effectless to the ground. 

 When, for instance, the figure of 

 Brougham 



